Hi,

It's incredible to me that you've owned all these cars and this is all you came away with. Every Car is different, not necessarily better, but different. Each offers it's own experience.

Once you've had it, you've had it - no need to repeat... So many Cars... so little time...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Sheeesh... just drive both and pick the one that you like best. My comment from 20 years ago was to point out the difference in "feel" that still exists today. They are all good cars, its just what YOU will enjoy driving more.

Indeed. It is easy to forget how much superior today's cars are over the same model of 20 yrs ago.

I have driven some older 911s, man, I tell you, they were crude, but they were fun and great IN THEIR DAY!

:cheers:

What's incredible to me is that a big V8 guy whose had a Vette and Z28 (ZZ Top fan?) would even consider an Elise!

I'm 31. I guess you can say I finally "get it" in terms of finding a car that hits all the right spots. When I was in H.S. a Porsche was only a dream. You would NEVER be caught driving an eco-import such as a Honda. The big V-8 mentality was the only "right" choice. Fast forward a few years and I think we all can say that options open up as we go through life. The brute V-8 didn't mean as much as a "total"experiance now does. My opinion..the Boxster has been the only "all around, total experiance car" I have driven to this point. It does all extremely well. Not just one thing. :cheers:

I have a lot more to say but my typing can begin to ramble on and on and on... ;)

When I was in High School, I was into Volvos... seriously. I would have got my butt kicked at your high school DAILY!

I'm not so much into Sweden nowadays or old cars... Ironically, I think this would be a cool car to have...

http://kryzak.com/storage/986-1800.jpg

Anybody familar with these here?

Wow, great looking car!

Ahhh Mr. Simon Templar's (alias The Saint) car :)

Hi,

I had the 1800S Wagon, fairly Sporty and overall not a bad Car at all. Never gave me any trouble, but the performance wasn't on the top of the list for it's day...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

It's a German word for rapid movement :) ( as Donny Baker sez "bob & tom in the morning" look it up!!!, I gotta go now)

My great grandfather is from Germany, ya think I knew?? :) (lazy a$$ CA type of guy)

Sorry didn't see your post till now.

OK.... I'll play.
To those from the 80's... you can argue as much as you want, but I would suggest you compare 944 Turbos to Corvettes in the same place the manufacturers did: The Showroom Stock series. I think you may find the records there eye opening.

I went from a '74 911 to an '88 924S to a '95 Vette, and then traded that in on an '89 911. Put a '98 986 in the mix, and I think I can compare.

The Corvette was a neat car, there were gobs of power, and it always went where I put it. The 986 was nimble, quick, and it always went where I put it.

Quality is an issue. I had an alignment problem with the 'Vette that NO ONE could figure out. What was worse was when it wore out the rear brakes before the front. That in itself was not an issue, but when I asked the dealer how it was that the left rear pad was down to metal, and the right rear pad still had 6 to 8 mm of pad left, he had no real answer, but suggested that if I paid for them to put on a new set, and it continued to wear that way, they might consider it a warranty issue. I had a similar frustration with a simple horn repair: if the temperature went below about 25 degrees F, the horn would not work. I asked to have that looked at, and the Service Manager said "well, you really shouldn't drive it in the winter". Hmm.

Now, before one starts insisting on the infalibility of the Porsche, I'd like to mention not only the Carrera chain tensioners I put on the 911 (and does anyone know anything about dylavar studs?), but also the 986 rear main seal.

So one might ask "was ist die untershied?"... and my opinion comes down to this:

From a driving perspective, the Corvette can "stay with" almost anything on the road, but the input it sends back to the driver is dampened. One thing GM will always do, especially after the Corvair (own one of those, too, a '65 Turbo drop top) is make a car that is predictable at the limits, that will not challenge Joe Six Pack. The Porsche, on the other hand, sends feedback to the driver and if the driver knows what to do with it, he can make the car really sing. Anyone can drive the Corvette quickly. To get the most out of the Porsche (and it's pretty good even if you don't get the most out of it) takes a little bit of talent and a lot of skill. The Corvette rewards the engineers, the Porsche rewards the driver.

From a quality perspective, well... things break. That's going to happen. Then what? My experience with Porsche dealers (the guys you're going to want to talk to if the car is under warranty and the guys you'll want to avoid if it's not) has been very good... they want you to come back (there are exceptions, and it's not like it used to be, but I have had good experiences). My experience with Chevrolet dealers was outlined above.

I probably won't buy another Corvette, unless I can find a really clean (or really needs to be restored) '67 some day. I have another 911 (this one a '74 Carrera) and I'm considering the purchase of a 987. I just can't decide if I want that or an Elise. There, the Porsche is much more refined, the Elise a go-kart. What I really want to know is why can't Porsche take a 987, strip out the non-essentials, get the wieght down to about 2300 pounds or less... and sell one of those. That I'd buy. The 986 was supposed to be a "modern 550". So why does it have power seats and tiptronic?